Some notes from Apple’s second fiscal quarter earnings conference call. The company posted a net profit of $290 million, or $.34 per diluted share, which it said was the highest March quarter for revenue and income in the company’s history. Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer and vice president Tim Cook participated in the call:

Apple today held its second quarter conference call, announcing profits of $290 million, and record profits and income for the quarter. Of particular interest to us is that 251,000 iBooks were shipped last quarter, an increase of 25% over the same quarter in 2004, while 211,000 PowerBooks shipped, for an impressive 34% increase over the same quarter in 2004. (PBZone).
In response to a question on the status of a PowerBook G5, Apple VP Tim Cook said, “I still think it’s the mother of all thermal challenges… I haven’t changed my view on that.”
Apple downplayed the recent and “well documented” PowerBook TrackPad issues. One Apple exec said there were some “isolated issues,” but he “thinks” they have been corrected. Customers experiencing issues with their new PowerBook TrackPad should call AppleCare, he said. Oppenheimer also said that lead times for PowerBooks rose for a short time due to demand exceeding supply. (AppleInsider).

I’m the kind of person that likes to keep my electronics in pristine condition so I usually become a little obsessed with cases. I slap a case on everything, my phone, iPod and camera. Although the iPod shuffle barely needs any protection (it’s so light that dropping it does little damage) it’s still a good idea to protect it from the wear and tear of everyday use.
That’s where the Skin Tight case for the iPod shuffle from Speck Products comes in. It provides 360 wraparound protection for the diminutive music player. The upside is that a silicone skin sticks to everything, it grips the dashboard of your car, sits nicely on the exercise bike, etc. The downside is that it sticks to everything and can be difficult to remove from your pocket, often inverting it in the process. Either way it’s a small price to pay for the protection provided and well worth the investment – especially if you’re as obsessed with your electronics as I am.
Skin Tight for the iPod shuffle is available now in clear, black and pink for US$19.95 – red, blue and green are available for pre-order and will ship on 30 March 2005.

Via Engadget, some details have leaked out about a prototype Numark DJ mixer that can mix two iPods. I know what you’re thinking: Wow, what a scoop! Where are the lawyers? Is it a fake?
In fact, in a gesture of spectacularly poor industrial secrecy, it seems Numark showed off an early prototype at the Musikmesse show in Frankfurt. (see the discussion at scratchworx that was the source of the ‘rumor’) Later in the show, head honchos asked that visitors not take photos, but not earlier in the show; hence we have a couple of images from German hip hop site WebBeatz.
So, what’s the mixer itself? It’s not clear: it’s an early prototype. In one of the photos of the actual prototype, the iPods aren’t even plugged in. Conceptually, though, the idea is interesting, and aside from allowing basic DJ mixing and crossfading, a buffer could grab audio from the audio for brief scratching. Apparently pitch control is possible, too, though limited, and it’s not clear how they might fix iPod cueing; in other words, all the normal limitations of the iPod for DJing apply. Don’t expect this to ship any time soon.
In the meantime, people continue partying with their iPods, special mixer or no — more Playlist parties in London and Philly are slated for this month.